The "Mighty Casey (Caden) At The Bat" Story

Caden's baseball card for 2014.

It was an ordinary day.  Top of the 5th and Mighty Casey, or I mean Caden, is at the bat.  Game tied 2-2, one out and a man on first.  Pitcher for the other team rears back and throws Caden strike one.  After another pitch the count is 0-2 (two strikes and no balls for those not familiar with baseball counts).  Then after four balls are thrown, the Mets' (Caden's team) coach walks to the mound after taking a throw from the catcher with his bare hand.  This is Caden's third summer of baseball and at this age bracket the coach enters the game to throw to his own players if the opposing team's pitcher happens to walk a batter.  Since this happens frequently, the Mets see quite a few pitches from their coach during a five-inning game.  On the first offering from the coach Caden takes a mighty swing and drives the ball between the right-centerfielder and the right fielder (teams are allowed to have four outfielders so more players can be in the game at one time).  He hustles to first and sees that the ball is still rolling so he continues to second.  As soon as he nears second he looks at his third-base coach who is waving his arms telling Caden to head to third.  

Caden is in the back row of boys on the far left.  Next to him
on his right is his dad who is kneeling.  Derek is one of the coaches
for the Mountville Mets.  

By now the right-centerfielder has retrieved the ball and thrown it to the right fielder who is relaying it to any of the three other players who are waving their arms in the air standing near second base.  Caden is nearing third and the coach is waving him home.  Never saw him run that fast before.  With arms pumping and sweat flying from his brow he crosses home without a throw.  His team is ahead for the first time.  And, that's pretty exciting since his team has only one 1 other game this year.  Never lost by a large margin, but never found the extra umpf to gain a win.  The Mets take the field in the bottom of the 5th inning leading 4-2.  The coaches son takes to the mound and with the extra excitement of a win manages to throw 6 straight strikes.  Two outs, but wait ……. he walks the next batter and the other team's coach steps on the mound with the ball.  Three strikes later the Mets jump in the air and head for a group hug.  Victory has been very elusive this year, but this makes up for all of it.  And, mighty Caden is the hero of the game with his 2-run homer. Casey, naturally, my grandson has a big hug for me after the game as I hand him a dollar for his homer.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.